SHARE-ME GUIDE
How to Organize and Verify Multiple Business Cards from the Same Person
Share-Me |
When you find several business cards with the same name, you may be tempted to delete the older ones and consolidate them into one. However, the information you should keep differs depending on whether the card was imported twice or received before and after a job change. If you mistakenly group together different people with the same name, you could mix up their contact details and meeting records.
This article categorizes decisions for organizing duplicate business cards into three types: "Duplicate copies of the same card," "Different cards from the same person," and "Different people or pending verification." This is not a guide for relying on a specific service's automatic determination, but rather a practical checklist for comparing the business cards and records you have on hand.
First, categorize cards that appear to be duplicates into three groups
The goal of organizing is not to reduce the number of records, but to ensure you can select the right person and information when contacting them. Do not decide to delete or consolidate a record based solely on the fact that the names are the same.
| Status | What to check | Organization approach |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate registration of the same card | Business card image, company/department, contact details, and the circumstances of the exchange | Confirm whether they are the same record and check if there are any notes present on only one of them |
| Different cards from the same person | Changes in affiliation or job title, date of exchange, and any instructions from the person themselves | Keep the current contact details and records of past interactions separately |
| Different people with the same name or individuals who cannot be identified | Company, department, personal email address, and the person who remembers the exchange | Keep them separate and pending until they can be verified; do not consolidate them |
It is possible for different people with the same name to work at the same company. Since a main phone number or general inquiry email address may be used by multiple people, do not rely on them alone to identify the individual.
Decision flow for confirming if they belong to the same person
1. Compare the original business cards, not just the names
First, arrange the candidates and compare the physical business cards or saved images with the entered information. Check the kanji, furigana, English spelling, company name, department name, and email address. Perform the task of correcting misreads or spelling differences separately from consolidating multiple records.
For example, if an email address differs by only one character, you cannot yet tell whether it is a typo or a different contact address. If it is also different on the original card, do not change it on your own; instead, check the time of the exchange and any follow-up emails. Finding only one result in a search is not proof that there are no other records.
2. Separate matching information from conflicting information
Even if the company name and person's name match, if the department or contact details differ, keep both the possibility of a job change and the possibility that they are different people. Use the signature of a previous email exchange, any change notifications received from the person themselves, and the memory of the person who exchanged cards as reference materials.
Conversely, even if the name, personal email address, and business card image match, if there is a record of exchanging cards on a different day, that interaction may still be useful. The decision of whether they are the same person is separate from the decision of whether the record is worth keeping.
3. Determine whether the current contact details can be confirmed
Finally, select the address you will use for the next contact. A more recently imported business card is not necessarily the person's latest information. An older business card may have been registered later, so distinguish between the "date of exchange," "date of receiving a change notification," and "date of registration in the data."
If you cannot make a determination, keep the record as pending verification. Confirm the department name and future contact details with the person through a reliable communication channel that has already been used. There is no need to send the same email to multiple addresses just to test the recipient.
Decide what information to keep using a comparison table
The following is an example of how to fill out the table for operational purposes; it does not represent real people or the Share-Me screen. Enter only the necessary information in a record location approved by your company.
| Verification item | Record A | Record B | Decision/Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name/Company | Company A/Person A | Company A/Person A | Match, but do not conclude they are the same person based on this alone |
| Department/Job title | First Sales Department | Sales Planning Department | Check for a job change notification |
| Date of exchange | Spring meeting | Fall interview | Check the date of the interaction, not the registration date |
| Contact details | Previously used address | New business card address | Compare the address to be used in the future with the person's instructions |
| Unique records | Record of previous consultation | Record of next appointment | Keep both records without losing either |
| Conclusion | Confirmed same person/change of affiliation | Clarify the current contact details and treat past interactions as history | |
Do not stop at simply deleting a record because it is a duplicate; also include the basis for the decision and the date of verification. This allows anyone who views it later to trace why it was determined that the records belonged to the same person. If your company has rules regarding retention periods or access permissions, please follow them.
What to check before deleting or consolidating
- Are there conversation notes, attachments, or next appointments present on only one of the business cards?
- Will it affect the records of other team members who share the contact or related business?
- After consolidation, will you still be able to confirm the past company, job title, and date of exchange?
- Can the deletion or consolidation be undone? What is the period or set of conditions under which it can be restored?
- Do you have the authority to perform the task, and does it comply with your company's data retention rules?
If you are unsure whether a record can be restored, hold off on deleting it and check the instructions from the administrator or the service you are using. Avoid performing bulk processing without first confirming the procedure. When keeping information that needs to be retained, it is also important not to copy it to a personal spreadsheet or other file without permission.
The mechanism for deduplicating names varies by service. For example, Sansan's official help explains the conditions for consolidating business cards from the same person. These conditions may not apply to other products, nor does this mean that the same automatic consolidation is available in Share-Me.
Keep records that will help you avoid uncertainty next time
When you receive a business card, record the date and circumstances of the exchange, and search to confirm whether the person is already in your contacts. Even if you have met the person before, check what has changed before overwriting the old information if the details on the business card have changed. Simply knowing who you met and when you met them will provide useful information for future comparison.
You can organize the content of notes to keep using the record items for conversation notes after exchanging business cards, and update information related to your own job change using the checklist for job changes and title changes. For this article, focus on the decision-making process for comparing multiple business cards you have received.
With Share-Me, you can search for candidates and confirm information
In Share-Me, you can search for business cards using a name, company name, phone number, email address, and other details. After searching for candidates with the same name, you can use this to compare company names and contact details. While paper business cards can be scanned and managed as data using AI, you should compare the captured information with the original before making a decision.
Searching for candidates and determining that they belong to the same person and consolidating the records are separate tasks. This article does not provide instructions for Share-Me's automatic deduplication or restoring deleted records. First, review the Share-Me Features and How-To Guide, and then start managing your daily business cards with Share-Me.